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I'm in process of purchasing some abalone shell blocks for inlay around the perimeter of an instrument.

The blocks I ordered arrived and I was dismayed to find that for quite a bit of money, I had purchased about a foot of inlay.

Does $1 and inch sound out of line for (actual as opposed to abalam)abalone inlay material?

Thanks in advance for the response.

Dave

For natural shell or for ablam? (laminated shell) natural shell should be between $.40 and $.70 an inch at 1/16" wide. You mentioned blocks.? Inlay blanks are typically sold by the ounce and abalone blanks are typically trapezoidal in shape roughly 1” x 1 ¼ to 1 ½” and will range in price widely based on type of abalone color density and iridescent and how wormed it is. $20-$50 per oz. A typical ounce will 10-16 pieces 1” x 1 ½” trapezoidal in shape

More than about 35-40 bucks for a 70/30 mix (thats what I use) of straight and curved 1/16 wide by 50 thou thick pieces to do the perimeter is too much. try mopsupplies.com. best price I know of.

If you plan on inlaying much wider shell than that, you wont be able to break it all that clean to get minimal gaps -plus you may need to cut/fit each individual piece -

The other thing is, you will not likely get a fully matched set (lets say you want all deep green, or blue/purple paua) unless you buys lots (like 250 inches +) and sort it yourself. A typical guitar top needs about 70 inches. Add another 12-15 if you do the end of the fingerboard.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 26otn%3D12

Well this link came out too long, but you might want to search ebay for similar and inquire if these are solid or laminate. They come from SE Asia, cut to width and radius. The photos look good--but who knows. There are two sellers that I see listed all the time. One is Bruce wiart and the other is Inlayartist, if I spelled them correctly.

My guess is its laminate - 50mm is about 2 inches ... thats pretty long for in order to cut a clean strip of paua. So hes asking 60 cents per inch, 3mm wide - not bad. This wont break all that well though at 3mm wide - thats about 1/8 inch. Really only meant for rosettes.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks for the replies.

The description for the material in question is as follows;

All natural abalone, not laminated. Each piece meausres 1.5mm x 2mm x 7mm.

Somewhere along the line I did some terrible math and thought each set would do half of the purfling. So I bought three bags to give enough for the top and a rosette. Man was I wrong.
I haven't figured out if I got ripped off, or if it is what it is and I just had no concept of how much abalone costs.

Michael, what did you use for your logo in your avitar? I assume that is from a laminated sheet?

What is our industry primarily using right now, laminated sheets or tiny tiles? Where do they get the supplies?

I think I just found the reason I haven't done fancy inlay (other than wood) before.

Dave

I don't think you got ripped off Dave. $1 per inch is right about normal. Yes, it's very expensive to do paua abalone purfling around a whole guitar!

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Thanks Dave for the assurance.

I finished the rosette last night and I think I just found out why, despite the cost, we still use the shell inlay.
That is one sharp and beautiful piece of art now.

D

No I don't use Ablam or any other laminate at all for anything unless it is too large to use natural shell. Natural shell has a bit more wastage to use and requires more work but I am not fond of laminated due to some problems that can pop up when sanded like sanding one layer of the laminate so thin that the next layer is visible through the upper layer and when sanding on a curve like a fretboard inlay, have more than one layer (therefore mixed up patterns and color) visible due to the curve.

I get my shell through luthiersupply.com (Andy DePaule)

Now don’t get me wrong Ablam is a great product for flat surfaces but I just like natural shell despite the extra work.

The cheepest thing to do is to cut your own strips and curved pieces. At least that's what I do.